FUN & FITNESS
WA SISTERS SWIM FOR
REHABILITATION CHARITY
Attadale Rehabilitation Hospital allied health assistant, Maddy Agostino,
has conquered the open ocean with her sister and raised money for
charity, by participating in the 2018 Rottnest Swim.
The Rottnest Swim is WA’s premier open water race
which starts from Cottesloe Beach and finishes at the
idyllic Rottnest Island.
Maddy, a physiotherapy student, swam in a team of
four alongside her sister Caitlyn, a fellow Ramsay
Health Care employee at Hollywood Private Hospital.
The pair entered the Rottnest Swim to raise money for
Pinc & Steel, a cancer rehabilitation charity.
“I chose the charity because I am a physio student,
so I highly regard the importance of rehabilitation for
patients.” Maddy said.
Maddy and Caitlyn have regularly competed in open
water swims.
“We were taking the challenge as a once in a lifetime
swimming goal for us”
Unfortunately for the Agostino sisters, they were
pulled from the water due to a shark sighting at the
12km mark.
“It was still a solid swim and a great event, plus we’ve
achieved our goal and raised more than $2000 for cancer rehabilitation.”
‘Speak up for Patient Safety’
Rollout Continues Apace
The national rollout of the Speak up for Patient Safety Program by Ramsay Health Care continues at pace with six hospitals and 15,000
staff having fully completed the training and a further 16 hospitals now in Phase 2 of the program rollout.
This innovative and evidence-based program is based on the
highly successful and proven approach developed over 25
years ago by Vanderbilt University (USA). It is the first time
the Vanderbilt program has been implemented by a private
hospital operator in Australia.
The program addresses in a positive way any behaviour
20 The Ramsay Way 2018 | 02
that undermines a culture of safety through peer to peer
conversations and equipping staff with assertiveness training.
Ramsay has adapted the Vanderbilt program for employees
and clinicians with the aim of improving and building on the
organisation’s strong safety and quality culture.
Ramsay UK is set to commence rollout of the program across
its network of facilities shortly.
Program Coordinator Chanelle McEnallay said in addition
to training over 15,000 staff, she was very pleased that over
40 peer messenger conversations have been undertaken
without complication.
“Anecdotally, we are already seeing a difference in clinical
outcomes in Western Australia, where the rollout has been
completed,” said Chanelle.
“We have reached the half way mark with more than 50
percent of hospitals completed, commenced or scheduled.
“Work has commenced on producing a case study paper on
the rollout of the Vanderbilt program in Ramsay Australia and
the impact it has had on clinical outcomes.
“We are leading Australia with this landscape changing
program and it is great to have such positive feedback from all
the stakeholders involved.
SAFETY